Environment Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO is at the forefront of work towards sustainable agriculture and food systems by promoting protection and sustainable use of natural resources, while meeting society’s growing needs for decent and resilient livelihoods. In 2015, FAO adopted the Environmental and Social Management Guidelines (ESMG) and Guidelines for Compliance Reviews Following Complaints Related to the Organisation’s Environmental and Social Standards. The Guidelines are an important building block for FAO’s approach to achieve sustainable development. They establish the knowledge and tools for FAO headquarters and decentralised offices to identify and manage environmental and social risks in the organisation’s strategies, policies and field programmes, projects and sub-projects. Achieving sustainable and productive agriculture while promoting protection and sustainable use of natural resources and the advancement of economic and social progress for all, are fundamental goals of FAO. All projects and field activities that are implemented under the FAO logo must offer benefits that reflect FAO goals and also ensure that they do not present any risks to the environment or to people. Risks that projects present are generally inadvertent, and may be in areas that are not the mai n topic of a project. FAO's vision, strategic objectives, key principles for sustainability, and environmental and social standards establish a boundary for FAO programmes and projects. Within the boundary are potential FAO projects where the environmental and social risks need to be managed in order to deliver expected outcomes for each individual project while mitigating potential negative environmental or social impacts. Following approval of FAO new Strategic Priorities in July 2019 and in response the emerging country needs for advisory and analytical support, FAO Country Programme in Sri Lanka and Maldives has transformed into 4 thematic Portfolios, namely Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Natural Resources Management and Environment Sustainability. FAO is recruiting Environment Specialist, to support the implementation and delivery of FAO’s Environment Thematic Program in Sri Lanka and Maldives. The post is based in the FAO Representation in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Reporting Lines

As a core member of the Policy and Knowledge Management Team, the Environment Specialist will directly report to the FAO Representative in Sri Lanka and Maldives and receive technical advice from the Lead Technical Officers at FAO Regional Representation in Asia and Pacific and other relevant technical officers at HQ.

Technical Focus

Biodiversity, forestry, agriculture, agro-chemical management, fishery, aquaculture, marine resources, water, nature- based solutions, and payment for ecosystems services.  Provide advisory and analytical inputs to preparation and implementation of FAO portogram in the fields of Biodiversity, forestry, agriculture, agro-chemical management, fishery, aquaculture, marine resources, water, nature- based solutions, and payment for ecosystems services.  Work with broad policies and objectives, working directly with clients, with supervision for critical tasks.  Contribute to efforts to mobilize additional resources from donor agencies, multilateral funding mechanisms, and special climate change funds.

Tasks and responsibilities

1. Strategy and Planning

 Provide knowledge and inputs for the coordination of the preparation of environment policies and strategies of FAO in Sri Lanka.

• Analyze water, land, forest, biodiversity and other natural resources plans in Sri Lanka with respect mobilize additional financing, and the opportunity of incorporating PES, NBS and eco-tourism to help finance ecosystem services.  Support policy dialogue with relevant government officials and development partners in Sri Lanka on policies and strategies to mainstream environment sustainability in development planning.  Identify gaps and needs to further scale up support to implement Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) priorities in the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sector.  Assess the comparative advantage of FAO to deliver support to the Sri Lanka to better support progress against environment priorities for agriculture and land-use sectors as outlined in their respective Nationally Determined Contributions and other relevant climate change policies.  Develop strategies to enhance the capacity of FAO to better facilitate action and scale-up climate finance to address environment policy priorities for the agriculture and land-use sectors in Sri Lanka.

2. Environment Programming and Project Management

 Develop, formulate, and administer environment sustainability projects related to Global Climate Fund(GCF), Global Environment Facility(GEF), FAO Technical Cooperation Projects (TCP) and other funding mechanisms.  Ensure compatibility, complementarity and / or continuity with past and present projects with FAO and within related key state agencies.  Ensure successful implementation of projects in adherence to FAO procurement and operational guidelines, considering resource and time constraints.  Coordinate with relevant FAO departments at HQ and Regional Office and relevant line agencies in the government, academic institutes and research organizations and project partners for proper communication and information sharing including the facilitating country office organize technical meetings, consultations and workshops.  Ensure that key technical, economic, financial, and crosscutting issues are incorporated into projects.

3. Policy Advocacy and Knowledge Sharing

 Assist FAOR and AFAOR (P) to address issues related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, eco system management particularly in the areas of Nature Based Solutions (NBS), access to special climate change funds, and carbon markets.  Initiate and coordinate activities in generating and disseminating knowledge on environmental sustainability in Sri Lanka through research, studies, and networking initiatives.  Coordinate training and advice on environment sustainability aspects of FAO Country operations.  Attend, as required by FAOR, in international and national forums and establish and maintain productive dialogue and relationships with key stakeholders in Sri Lanka and Asia and Pacific.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Master’s degree or equivalent, in Environmental Science, Environmental Economics, Environment Management, Natural Resources Management or related fields or a University degree in Environment Management, Natural Resources Management or related fields, combined with 5 years of specialized experience in similar organization(s), may be considered in lieu of a Master’s degree. • Suitability to undertake the responsibilities mentioned above at the required level. • At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in the fields related to environment management, marine ecosystem, water and natural resources sectors as well as exposure to the full project cycle (i.e. leading medium and large size climate programming for GEF and GCF funding, project processing to project implementation management). • Working knowledge of English. • National of Sri Lanka or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building Effective Relationships • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience in environment sustainability analysis and policy, environmental and development economics are preferred. • Experiences in leading medium and large size climate programming for GEF, GCF and donor funding are preferred. • Knowledge about government decision making and network with climate institutions will be considered assets. • Strong analytical skills as reflected in publications on environment sustainability in referenced journals.